A lot of time was spent reading various books and my favourite of all was Kitplane Construction by Ron Wanttaja. It takes you through the whole kitplane process and lets you know what you are letting yourself in for with lots of great advice.
Other books I found very useful were the Tony Bingelis books, particularly The Sportplane Builder, which contains great tips, advice. Whilst reading this book on a train from York to Oxford Sir Richard Branson (CEO of Virgin) walked into the carriage (eying up the company before buying it and turning it into Virgin Trains) so I asked him if he would sign it - he duly obliged wishing me luck.
All these books are available from the Light Aircraft Association.
